Prince Corwin of Amber has escaped his brother and finally has healed enough to begin planning the overthrow of his brother, Eric, who he believes has stolen the throne from him. He makes his way through Shadow to reach the places he remembers, to gather the tools he needs, and finds that Amber and the Shadows are under siege by an enemy never seen before. The source appears to be a mysterious black road. As Corwin unravels the mystery of the black road and begins moving against his brother, he realizes the welfare of Amber is at stake, and that takes precedence over who sits in the throne.
Impression: One thing about the Amber books, they read fast. They're short, not very complicated, and very focused on the main plot arc. So the plot is very straightforward: Corwin wants to be the ruler of Amber because he thinks he has more of a right to it than his (half) brother, Eric. The black road is something of a secondary plot, but it doesn't affect Corwin's goals until near the end of the novel, even though he thinks he knows where it came from and that he'll have to deal with it eventually.
Perhaps my one complaint is that the characters overall are too simple, too one dimensional. Corwin has some depth, and his brothers seem to have a little less so, but the other characters don't have any complication to them at all. This might change in future volumes as more comes out about each character, but in the story as written, they all seem to be more plot supports than real people: this man gives a chemical Corwin needs with little difficulty, Ganelon is the supportive follower even though Corwin exiled him and he originally hated Cowin for being a "devil" (though the exile was for a just cause), and so on. There is no hint of anything else in these characters. In fact, Ganelon just accepts the abilities that made him think Corwin was a devil before, even before meeting the brothers who have the same abilities. The advantage is that the plot remains uncomplicated and straightforward; the disadvantage is that the characters aren't believable.
The book was okay, overall. The characters being so simple can almost be overlooked as this was definitely more of a plot driven story than a character driven story. The books are fast, easy, and generally non-offensive. The writing is fairly clean, if a bit dry, and the story is engaging even if the characters (other than Corwin) are not. I can't list the book as being among my favorites, but I can recommend it if you're looking for an uncomplicated, fast read. If you can, you may want to pick up the individual Amber books rather than the 10 book omnibus. The omnibus is just a bit much to manage sometimes.
Corwin awakens in a hospital with no idea who he is or why he's there. He has some vague memory of an accident, but nothing more than that. What he does know for sure is that someone is keeping him doped up and in a hospital long after he needs to be, and he's determined to find out why. As it turns out, escaping the hospital is the easy part. Surviving his family while trying to discover who he is and why they're in contention with one another is by far the more difficult task. The alliances he makes are shaky at best, but he slowly regains his memory and returns to the place where it all began: Amber.
Impression:Nine Princes in Amber was a nice, fast read. It's a short book, but that doesn't make it simple. The settings are rich with detail, the characters well defined, the plot less straight forward than it would appear as the princes each try to outsmart one another. Corwin turns out to be no less ambitious, though one of the more likable characters. And there is so much that happens in so few pages that a reread is definitely going to be necessary to catch all the nuances of the story. There were a few lulls that I did have to kind of plow through, but the book is otherwise a very good read. Not one of my favorites, but definitely recommended.
Magdalen was born on Darkover to Terran parents, which makes her the perfect agent for the Terran Empire until her ex-husband and partner is captured by a bandit because of his similar appearance to a Darkover Comyn. She chooses to disguise herself as a Renunciate, one of the Free Amazons who have broken from the traditional roles given to women on Darkover, in an effort to mount a rescue mission. She meets with a band of real Renunciates, among them Jaelle n'ha Mellora, a woman raised in the dry towns until she was 12 years old, saved from a life in chains by the Free amazons who came to save her own mother from the man who had kidnapped her. After Megdalen is revealed as the fraud she is, she is forced to take the Amazon oath for real and the two join up to save the man who ends up being important to the both of them.
Impression: I have yet to read a Marion Zimmer Bradley novel I don't like, and the Darkover novels are among my favorites (second only to the novel, The Mists of Avalon, which will always be my favorite of hers). I always love stories with strong, female protagonists, and The Shattered Chain is no different. In addition to overcoming the obstacles of nature and the laws of a world ruled by men, Magda must also learn the rules that define the lives of the Renunciates, discovering in the process that perhaps she was meant to be a Free Amazon. Breaking from what she was to becoming what she sees to be her real heart is no easy task, but one that has its own joys. One of the things I like about Bradley's work is her ability to use minimal description and still managing to make it so you can see the story and be drawn into it. Her writing is spare, perhaps not as spare as most short stories require, but there is little extra to it, a gift and a talent that I think a lot of us writers could learn from. In its own way it's no less beautiful than McKillip's writing.
Unless otherwise noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by me.
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